The graduate schools at Brandeis have been successful in increasing admissions in an effort to counteract the effects of the current financial crisis and pre-existing budgetary concerns within the graduate schools, according to information presented at a faculty meeting last Thursday. Applications for the master's program at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences have increased by 30 percent, and applications for doctoral programs have increased by 5.8 percent, said Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Prof. Gregory Freeze (HIST) at the meeting. He stated that that the school aimed to increase the number of applicants for the master's program as a way of generating more revenue, an idea presented in the Curriculum and Academic Restructuring Steering committee's plan for the University.

Revenue is created by adding master's students because they are required to pay tuition. Ph.D. students, on the other hand, are paid stipends by the University. In an e-mail to the Justice, Freeze said that applications for master's and certificate programs within GSAS had jumped an "astronomical 36 percent" over last year.

The entering class of master's and certificate students rose from 200 last year to 255 this year, according to Freeze. Because of the jump in applications, Freeze wrote, "GSAS became more, not less, selective in admissions, with a substantial improvement in quantitative markers such as GPA and GRE scores."

Freeze said that this jump in admissions of master's and certificate students accounted for about two-thirds of the improvement in the GSAS budget, which "went from a deficit of $1.7 million last year to a positive $300,000 this year," wrote Freeze. At the faculty meeting, Freeze said that, in keeping with the recommendations of the CARS committee, the number of admitted Ph.D. students had been cut, but the stipends paid to those students increased, which increased the percentage of students offered admission who accepted.

F. Trenery Dolbear, associate dean and professor emeritus of Economics at the International Business School, and Dean of IBS Bruce Magid said in an interview with the Justice that admissions for master's programs within IBS have increased from 176 last year to 206 this year.

Dolbear said that the school admitted more students than it had expected to but that the increase in tuition revenue helped the school pay its expenses. "We are coming close to our capacity; however, . we couldn't keep doing this year after year," he added. IBS' capacity is 500 students, and the school currently has 485 enrollees, according to information presented at the meeting.

When asked if they had been able to maintain the quality of admitted students through this increase, Magid said in the interview that the school had admitted 13 Fulbright Scholars this year, bringing the total number of Fulbright Scholars in IBS to 27, a number he called "remarkable . for any business school or any program."

Dolbear said that along with the increase in tuition revenue, IBS cut its operating cost 10 to 15 percent last year in hopes of overcoming the mounting financial challenges.

Also at the meeting, Lisa Lynch, dean of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management said that the incoming class for the school is 25 percent larger than last year. In an e-mail to the Justice, she wrote that the incoming class increased by 60 students, from 180 incoming students last year, to 240 this year. She added that after a decrease in applications for the previous three years, there was a 19 percent jump in applications over last year.

Lynch said that this increase in applications is the result of a concerted effort to do "more aggressive outreach," including college fair visits, e-mails to prospective students and organizations that might send students and utilization of the extensive alumni network. In her e-mail she wrote, "Financially this growth has added to our ability to contribute to the University as a whole as well."

Michaele Whelan, dean of the Rabb School of Continuing Studies, said in an interview with the Justice that because of the rolling admissions system of the Graduate Professional Studies program, which allows students to enroll for semesterlong courses in the spring, fall or summer, it is difficult to tell what the exact number of students is at any one point, but she said that enrollment seemed robust and she thought that it was a good sign in these difficult economic times.

She continued "I think the Rabb School is unique. When you think about only 10 staff producing gross revenue of four-and-a-half million dollars, . and we don't have a lot of costs, . it's a very lean operation.